Know How to disable sharing of Wi-Fi passwords with your contacts in Windows 10

Windows 10 will be released later this week by Microsoft. This latest OS for desktop comes with several new features which includes some which have been borrowed from Windows Phone, Company’s own mobile operating system. One among those features is Wi-Fi Sense having several security enthusiast and users alike worried.

For the unfamiliar folks, Wi-Fi Sense is a networking feature which allows the users to share their Wi-Fi credentials with their buddies. This app will scan through a user’s Outlook contacts and Facebook accounts, and shares the username and password with their friends.

Windows 10

The moment when the security firms are presented before users is the moment when you might start realizing that everyone connected to you via Facebook or the people whom you exchanged emails is not your friend or not a real user.

According to the Microsoft defence, the company says that password shared with one’s friends is done over an encrypted network. Additionally, the password is encrypted by itself as well. The device which is being used to connect the network doesn’t interact with any other connected devices, said by the company. It is mentioned on Wi-Fi Sense’s FAQ page, they can’t access to other devices, computer or files stored on your home network and you also can’t access to these things on their network.

Along with the sharing of passwords, this feature also automatically connects you to crowd sourced open Wi-Fi networks. Security firms have constantly advised users to not connect to an open Wi-Fi network.

For example, Security firm AVG, is taking some time to remind us the probable threats of open Wi-Fi networks. “As it has been clear many times before that not all free or open Wi-Fi networks are safe i.e; others can be knowingly malicious. Accessing Internet on these hotspots can lead to your traffic being deflected by an attacker, known as a ‘man in the middle’ attack.”